All Forum Posts by: Sarah Kensinger

Hello Everyone! 

It's been 2 months since I last gave an update on my journey for Airbnb Arbitrage. 

I mentioned I'd give an update for when I make some progress in my journey.

                                                                --Context--

So I took the leap, found a mentor, called over 100 landlords/property management companies, studied and created in-depth excels for the area I planned on investing into and I landed a deal!!

I found a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom townhome that was recently updated and had been on the market for a while. After negotiation and all that I got my first Airbnb arbitrage property!!

Once everything was signed and agreed on, I went straight into staging the house checking for issues and everything along those lines. I had a few hiccups (the house had a leak and I had to get the ceiling replaced for the kitchen and so on) I made it work. My landlord gives me full control of the house and allows me to do anything I like cosmetic wise and she's such a kind soul that even told me she wants to sign a longer lease already just because she loves what I'm doing. It took alot of calling and emailing but I secured a place.

                                                     --The journey of listing--
After everything was signed and secured it was on to staging, preparing myself financially, buying required things, and so on. The first thing I needed obviously were the needed amenities plates and so on, so I already had that in the bag. What I thought I'd have a really hard time with was finding cleaners, handymen, etc. But luckily for me, I saw a cleaner cleaning the house next to me and to my surprise, I found the houses near me also are Airbnbs so I was able to get the cleaner's contact and assign her to my Airbnb and she even became sort of my mentor also where she gives me tips tricks and so on for maintaining the Airbnb. A lot of these connections are simply by me asking people, asking for help, and reaching out. Any other handymen and so on I needed I was referred to by my landlord or my mentor. 

After I got the amenities that I researched were the best for the area (I spent a lot of time looking at super hosts amenities and learning what they provide and what guests tend to highlight in their 5-star reviews) it was on to the hardest portion...STAGING. Just a little context I barely have a creative bone in my body I like to joke that my siblings took all the creativity for themselves this step personally was my hardest step. 

To start I made sure that I found a majority of my furniture from locally sourced companies such as thrift stores, Facebook marketplace, mom-and-pop shops, and so on because I felt if I'm going to do this right I want to support the local community I am investing into. After everything was staged my mentor took photos with her phone because time is of the essence so even before everything was fully furnished I listed what was there. I also have a professional photographer brother from NYC so I got him to take some photos when he came to visit. My mentor helped ALOT with advice, helping me stage she used to be a fashion designer in NYC (where I'm originally from) and is now both an Airbnb arbitrage investor and a real estate agent where she personally stages all her properties that she sells or Airbnbs. She is one of the most successful Airbnb hosts in the area so I really lucked out when networking with her (She also Airbnb arbitrages all of her properties). To be completely honest she gave me a chance mainly because I had the same birthday as one of her sons haha. 

As of 2-3 weeks ago my Airbnb has been listed, the first week of its posting the first month was already almost fully booked out. My first guest actually was "given" to me by my mentor because she had an emergency and needed to send one of her guests somewhere and guess what I had a house almost fully staged. I am still fairly new to the space and I am still getting hiccups at my property but I did it. I actually successfully started my Airbnb arbitrage buisness so I am extremely happy in doing this.

So far my guests have all told me they love the decor and even though they've had problems at the property because the house is a bit old they all were so kind to me and left me four 5-star reviews. I already have one 5-star review on VRBO also. Obviously, it's barely been a month since I've officially become a full-fledged Airbnb host but I am extremely optimistic. As of right now I was fully booked for July and halfway booked through August and a few bookings in December. I also am getting ready to start my next Airbnb Arbitrage soon I've already found another property and am currently in the negotiation process with the landlord but fingers crossed it goes through haha!

--Conclusion and a Thank you--
Everyone's advice really helped me, Harsh or not harsh I want to say thank you to everyone. My journey has just begun but I will admit my "success" partially is because of everyone here that gave some great insight. I am no expert and I am still green in this space. Eventually, I will work myself up to buying a house and doing this process but that's when capital is consistent because who knows what'll happen in the low months haha. Right now I am happy for what I've done, technically I'm "profiting" but obviously it's still too early on to tell we'll see in 3-6 months if this endeavor was either hit or miss. Regardless of the outcome, I will not regret my choice to get into Airbnb Arbitrage.

I just wanted to make sure I did this post justice and updated everyone that spent time reading and replying to the post. If you have any questions, concerns, and so on feel free to reply I'll try to get back to everyone asap. Since my Airbnb is booked most of the time I have free time now...when I was setting it up I was there from 8 am to 8 pm every day haha so it's nice to get a little breather.

Thank you,
@Nicholas L.
@Michael Baum
@Josh Uhlenkamp

@Sarah Kensinger
@Marcus R.
@Dave Stokley
@Lisa Marie
@Dan H.
@Cody L.
@Ika Sargeant
@Don Konipol
@Richard Elvin
@John McKee

 I'm getting 12ish% when I run it pretty conservatively getting 1500 downstairs and 2500 upstairs. Am I missing anything?